Education
That education is vital part of our nations future is without doubt. It is clear that in order to remain competitive economically, we need an educated populace. The methods of achieving that populace need to be reexamined. However, how we define education, and perhaps more importantly, how the political system interacts with education is of primary interest. Among the questions we hope to understand and answer: * What is education? * What are the goals of education? * Are educational goals the same for everyone everywhere? * Who should teach? * What is the role of private education? * What is the role of public education? * How do politicians portray education? * What is true about education (separating fact from fiction)? * What is equal education? * How should education be funded? =Public Education= If any child does not have the opportunity to obtain the education they require to survive and succeed, then the system has failed. The purpose of the educational system should be set with but one agenda, to educate the young to prepare them for the world. Politics should not be allowed to distract from that primary goal. A guiding mission statement should be created, a single driving force that focuses the energies of all involved. As an example, as a U.S. Marine instructor, our mission statement was “80% retention of 80% of the material,” however, that is results driven and one cannot have outcome based direction. You also don't want a mile long statement indicating every method and manner of education, fluffed with political correct terms either, as it will distract from the goals. Education standards must apply to all states and districts. Standards will keeps states and districts from falling behind. No child from one state or district should be privilege to a "better" education than any child from other states or districts. Some Goals of Elementary Education 1. Every child should have equal access to high quality education. Without access, the curriculum is a moot point. 2. All teachers should be highly qualified. 3. Topics should be presented in an engaging manner so all students are involved. 4. Differing viewpoints should be offered on topics of dissention, and theories should be taught as such and not labeled as fact. Some Goals of Secondary Education 1. Every child should have access to high quality education 2. All teachers should be highly qualified 3. Multiple styles of teaching should be used; Multiple forms of assessment should also be used. 4. Critical thinking should be encouraged. 5. Career exploration should begin 6. Students should encounter different cultures, religions, ideas, and social structures and reflect on the experience. 7. Psuedoscience must be discouraged. Children should have a clear understanding of what is fact, fiction, and theoretical. 8. Education should be college preparatory. Funding Public Education After several decades of increasing federal influence in education, I think it is about time the U.S. government backs out. Despite ever increasing funding, there are no data to support the theory that the government has improved public education. I would like to see educational funding revert entirely to state and local municipalities. In the short term, this would create a system shock, as many districts would suffer funding shortages. Over time, you would see a transformation of many districts. In areas that attract educated people, you would see more school choices, as entrepreneurs entered the field in order to capitalize on the demand. There would also be an increase in philanthropic funding from businesses, as they respond to meet their workforce needs. Year Round Schooling Summer breaks are an anachronistic vestige of our agrarian past: students used to require summers off so they could help their parents harvest summer crops. Our current school system spends almost the first half of the school year re-teaching everything from last year that the students forgot over the summer. Instead of the large summer break, year round schooling should be adopted, giving more regular, but shorter, breaks. The primary educational benefit of YRE is that it facilitates continuous student learning. Source: Year-Round Education. ERIC Digest, Number 68 Students who attend year-round school rate slightly higher in retaining learned material. Source: Year-Round School Gives Kids a Boost, Duke Expert Says On the other hand trying to teach during the summer months can be ineffective and even detrimental to children and the overall education process. =Private Education= Private education plays an important role in the United States, especially for the upper strata of our economic structure. Against Private Education Despite the failure of the Public School System, privatizing the school system is not the panacea many hope it is. Arizona’s charter school system has created a plethora of private organizations creating schools for the sole purpose of the easy federal dollars they bring in. The teachers are still underpaid, the administration is made up almost entirely of board members with exorbitant salaries, the children are still not getting the education they need, and involved parents are seen as an annoyance. First, What Are We Trying to Achieve? Before we take sides, I'd like to know what the objectives of public/private education actually are for less than college or trade-school education. For instance, are we talking about "no child left behind?" (minimum achievement), or are we talking about "opening up higher education opportunities for gifted but economically challenged students", or "what our industy needs from students just entering the work force", or "we need self-sufficient citizens that constructively add to our culture", etc.? However strange it may seem, I have found that the U.S. Dept. of Education does not have a top-level set of goals, only prescriptive sub-objectives in order to meet governing laws that keep the process in bounds. It seems to me that arguing public vs. private education is secondary to understanding what the desired end state is. Education as a Personal Goal The supposition here is that the state should set standards for education. The Declaration of Independence indicates that this Union was founded on the unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Included in these rights is the freedom to decide what one's own goals are, and generally the right to pass on social mores and customs to one's posterity. There are numerous educational goals including socialization, culturalization, and professionalization. One can pursue an education to satisfy any or all of the three. It is also conceivable that one would choose to pursue no education. It is therefore inappropriate to confiscate the earnings of an individual in order to establish an institution that is not held to be of use to all who contribute. Privatization allows for the users to determine which establishments meet their educational needs. Moving resources through a redistribution system in order to meet the goals of a national Educational Department is a solution that will satisfy only a small percentage of the population. The Myth of the Failure of Public Education The Public School System has some spectacular failures, to be sure, but to gloss over the entire system as failed is a bit myopic (incidentally, it would be equally myopic to call it an unqualified success). The United States Department of Education presents some interesting statistics about the real story of schools and public education in America. Here's some links to look at: http://www.nea.org/edstats/ http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ http://165.224.221.98/ Part of the trouble in Public School System is the relationship between the media and Public School System. Failures are enthusiastically covered, while successes are not. Moreover, Politicians highlight failings in public education when they are running for office. A more discerning look at this issue is important in order for us to have an intelligent discussion about it. Category:Education =Perspectives= (Share your feedback about this section's format/content on the discussion page!) As a way of starting a deeper conversation around Education, please post your "Perspective" below. This will give us a clear structure for looking at all the diverse and interesting perspectives we all hold. Each Perspective should be formatted as follows: "I am _______, and I believe _______." EXAMPLE: "I am a student, and I believe we should have more money for music in our schools." EXAMPLE: "I am a businessman, and I believe the government should give out vouchers for private school." EXAMPLE: "I am a teacher, and I think teachers need to be paid more, trained better, and given more support." Let's keep this civil, thoughtful and friendly... and have fun! What's YOUR perspective? Remember to "sign" your comment with four tildes *I'm a life coach, and I believe that the federal government should dedicate more funds to education. :: *I'm a future parent and present uncle, and I think that when the government has primary responsibility for teaching children, it will tend to teach the children to be uncritical of politicians and maintain the status quo. :: *I'm a high school student. I think that the government should focus on giving more funds to areas with low graduation rates and low test scores, so as to give those students more educational opportunities to succeed. :: *I am a medical student with a elementary age child and a baby. I am a strong believer that one of the fundamental missions of our government (both federal and state) is to educate our citizenry. This is one of the main reasons why we should pay taxes. We all should contribute to ensure that our country remains a leader in education. In contrast to the views of many teachers and local school boards, I think that we should have strong national standards and national testing with uniform exams so that there cannot be local artificial manipulation of scores and achievement. While we should always cultivate artistic talents in children with school offerings like drama, music and art, we cannot ignore the fundamental need to produce educated students who can read complex materials, who can write clearly and succintly and who understand math and science. But goals like these require money. And that has to come from taxpayers. Nick 22:28, 6 July 2006 (UTC) :: *I am a high school student. I believe the current educational system creates a lack of competition resulting in a backwards educational system. Students options for vocational training is limited, students with special needs are not having those needs met and gifted students do not have the oppurtunity to be challenged. I beleive the remedy is to shut down all public schools and divide equally their allocated funds among all citizens with childrens as an "educational voucher" with which enrollement any of the now numerous by neccesity private schools could be funded. Such an endeavour would create a competitive marketplace in which schools competed for potential students. :: *I am a son of an elementary special education teacher, and I am confused why she cannot get work merely because she has a MS in Special Education. Her graduate degree and years of teaching experience mean that school districts must pay her more, but when principals have tight budgets they'll take young teachers with only undergraduate educations and no teaching experience. I appreciate the financial side of the issue, but why are we putting money in front of more extensive training and experience?--Anhhung18901 03:14, 7 July 2006 (UTC) *(Insert yours here) :: * I am a former high school student, and i believe that public education is less catered to learning and more catered to preparing students for middle economy. Teachers are issuing homework because they're told instead of homework that would help with retention and understanding difficult concepts. Assessment scales are built on how well you can complete the task given to you in the time alotted, not an assessment on the knowledge of the concept. public education is busier producing drones then productive members of society. ::